For clubs that own some standard equipment ... well, what is standard equipment for your club? How much did you spend per set?

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I write Go-ing Shodan, a blog about trying to get through the sdk's. If you want to check it out, tenuki.

Our university club got two of the ~$35 portable magnetic sets from YMI.

The West Michigan Go Club had some sets from a local Korean market that ran ~$35. The boards were plywood and the stones are some kind of plastic. Sadly they were lost late last year. They were nice enough boards.

So if you just want basic sets expect to pay around $30-40.

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"You have to walk before you can run. Black 1 was a walking move.
I blushed inwardly to recall the ignorant thoughts that had gone through
my mind before, when I had not realized the true worth of Black 1."
-Kageyama Toshiro on proper moves

Effectively this one, http://www.goshop-keima.com/spelmateria ... ass-stones (thought we order boards and stones separately back when we got them). As bowls we use cheap tupperware containers, so in total our sets cost about 50 euro each. However, as we usually ordered in bulk, we received some discount on that. Also, we have a stack of plywood 13x13/9x9 boards, which we use for our intro courses, costing 7 euro each. For tournaments and our internal ladder competition, we own about 20 electronic go timers (DGT 2000+) which were about 40 euro each.

My club is in a library, and we got an equipment grant from the American Go Foundation for the purpose of teaching kids to play. It included plenty of plastic stones, some nice vinyl boards in various sizes, and some thick cardboard 9x9 sets. Through them we also got deeply discounted both a wooden 19x19 and a 9x9 board, and a ton of books for a fraction of the actual price.

The wood boards and one of the vinyl sets and plastic stones are available for anyone to play in the library at any time, but for actual meetings, I like to bring my own equipment. Players get the opportunity I didn't have of actually trying out various types of stones and boards without having to buy them first! On the occasions we have lots of players, the plastic sets are brought out, too. Everyone agrees that the experience of playing with good stones on an attractive board makes the game even more enjoyable, though.

Whether you want to risk your own gear at a meeting might depend on many different factors, though.

GoGameGuru sells a "dirt cheap" go set on special for $9.99 right now. It has a vinyl board which appears to wrinkle in storage but it looks workable. They also have a "dirt cheap" wood(!) go board on specialfor $9.99 right now.

http://shop.gogameguru.com/dirt-cheap-go-game-set/

http://shop.gogameguru.com/dirt-cheap-go-board/

For club use and durability you'd probably want the wood board but a workable full size go set for $9.99 is hard to beat.


P.S. The club I attend (infrequently) uses Ing equipment which you can buy from Yutopian

https://www.yutopian.com/yutop/cat?prod ... ategory=sb

https://www.yutopian.com/yutop/cat?prod ... category=T

These sets cost $74 each including shipping.

I agree with gowan: the $9.99 "dirt cheap" wood board is very good as a budget starter board.

( The "dirt cheap" wrinkly vinyl "board"... is... well, umm, not very satisfactory. I cannot say it any nicer than that. )

I also highly recommend the Yutopian's 10 mm ING weigted plastic stones for club use.

If one were to make some boards (quality not a priority), how do you ink the board? Is there a measurement out there? And I assume you would just use an indelible ink marker? I worry that it will look...not straight? Obviously I would use a straight edge, but the spacing I would worry about consistency.

Hmmm, if quality is not a priority, just a black Sharpie may work. If quality matters, then there is no upper limit to the amount of time, money, and energy you want to invest.

Maybe you should ask this guy...

Here is a link to a page on SL with measurements for line spacings and other dimentsions: http://senseis.xmp.net/?EquipmentDimensions

It might be obvious but when drawing the lines you don't want the ink to bleed underneath the straight-edge, so use a straight-edge which sits just a little bit above the board surface. To keep the ink from bleeding into the board surface, make the board surface as smooth as you can and seal it with spray-on polyurethane, then draw the lines and then spray again so the lines are "sandwiched" between layers of polyurethane.

This SL page has links to lots of useful information about making your own equipment: http://senseis.xmp.net/?MakingYourOwnEquipment

Tyvm!

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I'm hoping, if I can put some cash aside, to pick up some equipment at the Canadian Open at the end of the month. Though I've no idea if there are supposed to be vendors there, I'm hoping. So I wanted some idea of what's needed, and what it's going to cost.

For comparison, I think that, for the price, given shipping costs out of the US, I think the best comparison against vendors I might meet might just be to sea-mail some 1cm shin kaya boards or some 2 cm folding agathis boards from Japan at about $30 per plus shipping.

Now, to decide on stones. I'm thinking either Korean glass, or Ing stones ... I've never seen an Ing stone, though. Maybe they'll have some at the Open that I can check out.

For bowls, there's always lock n locks or something. I do have one nice set of cheap, hard black plastic go bowls, but they don't seem to make them anymore.

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I write Go-ing Shodan, a blog about trying to get through the sdk's. If you want to check it out, tenuki.

If you are open to having things shipped from Japan then you should contact a vendor there who will sell overseas. Even the fanciest go board shops really make their livings from selling inexpensive club-type things. Check with Kiseido in Japan. Also check with someplace like Kuroki Goishiten. Explain what you want and the quality you will accept and maybe you'll get a deal.

Regarding Ing stones, they are plastic with a metal weight inside to give them appropriate weight. They are around 10mm thick. Personally I don't particularly like them because they slip from the fingers easily and slide too easily on the board. I used to have a set but I ended up throwing them out because the metal inside expanded with heat and eventually cracked open several stones. Supposedly that flaw has been corrected but ... However, they are very widely used for tournaments in the USA and they are inexpensive and won't break easily when dropped on the floor, unlike glass.